Spirituality and Religion - Same or Different?

The terms “spirituality” and “religion” are used interchangeably and are accepted as the same thing by some. However, there are some who claim them to be entirely different. Spiritual but not religious (SBNR) is now a popular identity.

So are they the same or different?

To attempt to answer this, let us analyse these words.

Spirituality – connotes “of the spirit”. It’s something that has got to do with the spirit. Now….what is spirit? The word spirit has many connotations and meanings. It is used to denote God, consciousness, the spiritual personality, ghost or the biblical Holy Spirit. These distinct connotations leave us with more confusion than clarity. The term spirituality is a contemporary phrase. I read somewhere that it has its genesis from the US and is more commonly used since 1960.One of the definitions in Wikipedia on spirituality is “an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being”.

Religion has its origin from the latin phrase Re-Ligare. Re means again, Ligare means to bind, tie or fasten.

So Re-ligare means that which binds again, or that which re-connects. Hence, religion is that which re-connects one to his/her source.

Man has more aspects to him than meets the eye. What we see is the physical personality. In addition, there is a mental personality, emotional personality, intellectual personality and a spiritual personality to him. These are subtler personalities of him, of which the spiritual personality is the subtlest. The spiritual personality is said to be the core of man’s being – it is also referred to as consciousness. Some people refer to it as the soul; some refer to it as the atman. It is widely accepted that this soul, atman or consciousness has a direct connection with the universal consciousness – what we refer to as God or the source.

So, spirituality is anything to do with man’s inner being / spiritual personality or God. Religion is that which helps unite the man (his inner being) to his source or God.

Hence religion and spirituality are apparently the same. Both are related to God or the Source and its relation with man.

So, why is there a hue and cry against religion and for spirituality of late?

Religion has taken a whole new meaning in the modern context. It has become a point of identification for an individual and thus a point of discrimination. It has become - having only a particular set of beliefs, practicing only certain rituals, following only one text (or set of texts) and under a set command of leadership. It has become cultish. Organized religion tends to be restrictive and confining. People tend to ignore the spirit and go by the letter leading to what we call “religion fanaticism”. Ideas such as “My God is more powerful than yours”, “My God is the only True God” etc. surface leading to conflict and violence in the name of religion.

Hence, the concept of spirituality evolved – a much broader concept of belief in a higher power, not confining it to any religious text, name, ritual or following - A concept which is meant to transcend the bondage of man to a particular religion.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in treading a particular religious path as long as the seeker has the broader picture in mind – that God is one and there are many paths which lead to the same goal and no path is either superior or inferior, just that a particular path works for him.

At the end of the day, names don’t matter, concepts don’t matter, paths don’t matter….peak realization is when nothing matters. Religion serves as the pole in a pole vault event. You need the pole to reach a particular point after which you need to drop the pole and cross the bar. The pole needs to be flexible as well as sturdy – so too should be one’s religion.